Hey, Carpool Crew. Welcome back to Carpooling with Heroes of the Bible. I'm Pastor Justin, and today we're kicking off a brand-new series, five episodes, one brave believer. We're talking about Rahab. Now, before we get rolling, let me ask you something. Have you ever felt like nobody really sees you? Like maybe you're the kid in the back of the room, maybe you don't have the loudest voice. Maybe you've messed up, and you feel like people only see your worst days and your worst behavior. Maybe you live in a house or a school or a part of town where you feel like God's plans are happening somewhere else for somebody else. If that's you, I think you're going to love this story, because it's about a woman God saw when nobody else thought she was worth seeing. So let's set the scene. The book of Joshua. Israel has just crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land, and the very first city standing in their way is a place called Jericho. Jericho was old. Like really old. We're talking one of the oldest fortified cities on the entire planet. Archaeologists have dug up the ruins of Jericho, and what they found is wild. Not one wall, two walls, an outer wall and an inner wall, both made of thick mud brick. Some sections rising to 25 feet high. That's like a two-story building stacked on top of another two-story building. Hard to climb. Really hard to break. Almost impossible. Jericho was also a major trade hub. It sat on the road between Egypt and the rest of the ancient world. Merchants, soldiers, travelers, caravans full of stuff, people were coming and going all the time. So Joshua, the leader of Israel, makes a smart move. He sends two spies into Jericho to look around. Listen to what happens in Joshua 2:1-3. "Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from the Acacia Grove, saying, 'Go and scout the land, especially Jericho.' So they left and came to Rahab's house and stayed there." Now, stop right there. Of all the houses in Jericho, the spies end up at Rahab's house, and the king of Jericho hears about it almost immediately and sends men to capture them. So why Rahab's house? Here's where the historical context helps us. Rahab's home was likely built right into the outer wall of the city. That was actually common for people on the lower social rungs of Jericho. Their houses were tucked into the wall itself, which made it the perfect place for travelers, foreigners, and yes, spies to slip in unnoticed. But here's something else we need to talk about. Rahab had a very different kind of job. The kind of job that when most people hear about it, they think, is she really the kind of person that is going to be in the Bible? Not only that, some people would look at her and say Rahab was not the kind of person anybody in Jericho would have picked to be in a Bible story. She was an outsider. She lived on the edge of town. She lived on the edge of society, and she was probably looked down on. People probably whispered about her when she walked by. And that is exactly the kind of person God loves to use. Listen, the religious leaders of Jericho were not chosen. The wealthy merchants were not chosen. The king of Jericho was not chosen. God's plan for that city ran straight through a woman whose front door was built into the wall on the outskirts, in the part of town nobody respected. That tells us something huge about God. God does not see people the way the world sees them. The world sees the outside, the popular kid, the super athletic kid, the really smart kid, the kid with the nice house, the nice clothes. But guess what? God looks deeper. God looks at the heart. Remember David? That's where that idea became famous. While everyone looks at the outside, God looks at the heart. You know, in 1 Samuel chapter 16, when the prophet Samuel, we talked about him on the last Carpooling with Heroes of the Bible, he was looking for the next king of Israel. God told him, "Humans don't see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart." Yep, that was true for David, and it was already true for Rahab hundreds of years before David was born. This also points us forward to Jesus. See, when Jesus showed up, where did he spend his time? Not with the religious all-stars. He sat with tax collectors and sinners. He talked with the Samaritan woman at the well. He healed lepers. He let a sinful woman wash his feet. Jesus has always gone to the people the world overlooks and casts away. So here's what I want you to take away with you today, Carpool Crew. You might feel forgotten. You might feel like you don't always measure up. You might feel like you're behind a wall, or stuck in a corner, or living a life that nobody important would notice. Friends, God sees you. He sees the kid sitting alone at lunch. He sees the kid who's nervous to raise his or her hand in class. He sees the kid who's hiding because he made mistakes and feels bad about it. He sees the kid whose family is going through something hard. He sees you. And not only does God see you, he uses you. He wants to use you. Rahab's life is about to change forever, and we're going to walk through that in all of our episodes. For today, here's something you and your family can discuss. Has there ever been a time you felt overlooked? What would change about your day tomorrow if you really believed God sees you right where you are? Talk about it in the car, or at the dinner table, or sitting around hanging on the couch, or talk about it on a long road trip in the carpool, and spend some time praying about it together. Thanks for riding along with us today on Carpooling with Heroes of the Bible. Next episode, we'll be picking up right where we left off. Rahab is about to do something brave that puts her life on the line. You won't want to miss it. I'll see you next time on Carpooling with Heroes of the Bible.
